Everyday Tips to Make Living With COPD Easier

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Robert T. Schreiber, MD, is an American Lung Association in New York expert.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects your breathing and can make it harder to enjoy everyday activities. That's why it's so important to learn habits that can help make your life easier. In this program, you'll get smart tips for conserving energy from an expert in the field: Dr. Robert T. Schreiber, a pulmonary specialist at Nassau Chest Physicians in Great Neck, N.Y. You'll find out why people with COPD need to be especially mindful of conserving oxygen, learn how planning ahead can help you avoid fatigue, discover energy-saving shortcuts, and get healthy tricks for reducing stress and anxiety.

Carolynn Delany:
Welcome to this Everyday Health podcast, "Everyday Tips to Make Living With COPD Easier." I'm your host, Carolynn Delany. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, affects your breathing and can make it harder to do everyday activities. That's why it's so important to learn habits that can help make your life easier.

Joining us today is Dr. Robert Schreiber, a pulmonary medicine specialist at Nassau Chest Physicians and director of the surgical ICU at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York. Dr. Schreiber and Nassau Chest Physicians are also actively involved with the American Lung Association in New York. Thank you for being with us, Dr. Schreiber.

Dr. Robert T. Schreiber:
I'm very glad to be here with you today, Carolynn.

Carolynn Delany:
Dr. Schreiber, why do people with COPD need to be especially mindful of conserving their energy?

Dr. Schreiber:
Patients with COPD have damaged lungs. In general, you use more oxygen when you exert yourself, so it's important for them to pace themselves and to decide to use their muscles and oxygen for really important things and not for things that could be skipped and put off or done by someone else.

Carolynn Delany:
As COPD progresses, people will become more aware of what taps their energy levels. How can planning ahead help with the fatigue?

Dr. Schreiber:
You can plan rest periods and you can plan naps. You can plan time to take your medicines, including nebulizer treatments, so that you can work around your schedule and help keep things under control and do the things that you want to.

Carolynn Delany:
Well, I'm sure that you and your nurses have learned a few tricks from your patients about energy-saving shortcuts. Can you share a few of those with us, please?

Dr. Schreiber:
Yes. My nurses were very eager to give me lots of tips for patients for today's recording when I told them I was doing this because they actually spend more time with the patients about some of these issues than I do.

So one thing, which I think is a great idea, is when you go to the grocery you can buy precut-up fruit and healthy prepared food. And when you cook, make extra food, that is, make enough for two or three meals but then go ahead and freeze some. For about the same amount of energy expenditure cooking one meal, you can make a few, and then you don't have to go through the whole bother of cooking every day for several days.

A couple other tricks that I was taught was to eat small, frequent meals and eat them slowly and to pick foods that are easy to chew. All these things don't tax the respiratory system so much. The small meals won't distend your abdomen as much and push up on the diaphragm. And with easy-to-chew foods, you don't have to work so hard to get food chewed and ready to be swallowed.

I was told that a good idea is to avoid long lines. So you don't want to go to the Saturday night movie, when you could go to a Thursday afternoon matinee. So, you know, anything you can do like that, or not going to the grocery store at the most popular shopping times, so that you avoid long lines and just standing there. Where you're not doing anything but standing on a line can sometimes be very tiresome for our patients.

And another good trick I was told was to wear loose clothes that are not restrictive so the respiratory muscles can work easily. Loose-fitting clothes are also easier to put on. You don't want things that have lots of little snaps and buttons and things like that. You want stuff that's easy to get on and off.

Another tip that someone told me was that you could try using an absorbent robe instead of drying yourself with a towel, so you don't have to bend over and reach all around your body, and you can just put on a simple robe. And that will also be a little bit easier and less energy expenditure for yourself.

Carolynn Delany:
Great tips. Well, how can organizing things in your own home make life a little bit easier?

Dr. Schreiber:
Again, finding simple ways to do our chores is probably the most important thing. All this is about doing things efficiently so you don't have to go back and forth and back and forth. Being organized, leaving things in the same place so that you don't have to waste time and energy using up your oxygen looking for things. If you leave your keys or your shoes or your clothes or whatever it is in the same place all the time it's a lot easier for you, and you don't have to waste the energy trying to track these things down.

Also keeping frequently used items within reach is a good tip that I was told. That way you don't have to go straining and stuff to try to find a pot or pan or a book or commonly used clothes or cosmetics. So keep them in a place that's easy to get to. If you have to move stuff from room to room or around a room, having a small table on wheels or a cart and putting it on that and then moving the item will save you energy rather than carrying it. I thought that was wonderful tip for people.

One other one I was told is don't hang your mirrors high. If they're lower then it's easier for you in terms of combing your hair or dressing because you can sit down and do it in front of a mirror rather than standing to do the same thing. For patients with more severe emphysema, you know, standing up and combing your hair can actually be very energy taxing.

Carolynn Delany:
There are mobility aids that can help conserve energy too, like shower chairs are very helpful, recliners that assist with helping you get out of a chair, and even electric scooters. Do you recommend these to your patients?

Dr. Schreiber:
I think shower chairs are great because again you can sit rather than stand, and it's less energy taxing for patients with advanced emphysema. In terms of recliners and walkers, these are good mobility aids to try to keep you independent and moving and doing the things you want to, which will all help you get the things done with less energy use and do it in a safe way.

In terms of wheelchairs and scooters, I try to discourage most of my patients from using them on a regular basis unless they have very advanced COPD and cannot get someplace or do things without them. What I'm always afraid of is once somebody has a wheelchair or scooter that they're going to start relying on it more and more and using their own muscles less and less.

Carolynn Delany:
Are there any special tricks that you'd like to share about reducing stress and anxiety for people living with COPD?

Dr. Schreiber:
Well, we all have stress, and I think we all have to learn how to deal with it and find healthy outlets for it. There are unhealthy outlets for stress, things like smoking, drinking, taking illicit drugs, yelling at your spouse or loved ones. These are all destructive things to do with stress.

On the other hand, there are healthier things you can do with stress. Exercise is a wonderful thing that can be a stress reliever for some people, and it's good for your heart and lungs and your muscles. So I think that's a wonderful choice. For other people, yoga, meditation, listening or playing music are also wonderful ways of reducing stress.

There are other things to help people with stress like support groups, which I think are wonderful because it gives a chance for people to talk about the issues that they share with other people who have the same disease. Ideas are passed around, little tips with each other. And I think it also helps people to know that they're not alone, that there are other people who face the same challenges.

Of course, being educated helps reduce stress. Listening to podcasts, reading, getting information from your healthcare provider I think are all wonderful things to help reduce stress because knowledge about what's happening to me and what should I expect, I think there's a fear of the unknown.

And of course as a last resort there are medications for people who feel stressed. I personally don't like to prescribe medications for stress, but there are some people who need them, and sometimes that's an option that you could talk to your doctor or other healthcare provider about, too.

Carolynn Delany:
Well, Dr. Schreiber, you've shared so many useful tips with us today. Thank you so much.

Dr. Schreiber:
Well, Carolynn, once again it's my pleasure to be with you and share these tips with patients with COPD. I also want to just take one moment to thank the nurses in my office, Lee, Joan, and Karen, who gave me some of these tips I shared with you today.

Carolynn Delany:
That's great. Thank you, nurses, you're always such a huge help. And also it's a great tip to get in touch with the American Lung Association because they're a great asset and resource, as you've said.

Dr. Schreiber:
I agree a thousand percent. Thank you, Carolynn.

Carolynn Delany:
You've been listening to an Everyday Health podcast, "Everyday Tips to Make Living With COPD Easier." For more information on COPD, visit EverydayHealth.com. I'm Carolynn Delany for Everyday Health. Thanks for joining us.

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